Keeping a brother’s light and leadership alive

Three years after 7 October, Doron Libshtein is still learning how to live with the loss of his brother Ofir, who died defending Kibbutz Kfar Aza. Ofir, 50, was head of the Sha’ar HaNegev Regional Council and a community leader in the Gaza border region. His 19-year-old son, Nitzan, was also killed that day. 

In an interview with the SA Jewish Report, Doron explains how he has turned his grief into an effort to preserve Ofir’s approach to leadership. 

He describes a family changed forever by the attack. “It is the toughest thing for me, for my sisters, my brother, my mother, and the kids. At the beginning you tell yourself, ‘Just for a while.’ But now you realise he’s not coming back.” 

Doron and Ofir were four years apart, but extremely close. They looked almost alike and built businesses together. In 2005, they created a coaching business and worked with international mentors. Their relationship was rooted in friendship as much as family. 

Doron says his brother was a leader in the family, on the kibbutz, and in the wider Jewish world. Ofir led the Sha’ar HaNegev Regional Council, which includes communities near the Gaza border. He also created Netaim, a network connecting small Jewish communities around the world with Israel. 

“Ofir was very proud of being Jewish,” Doron says. “And he wanted to have a better future for his children and grandchildren.” 

One of Doron’s books, The Light and Good Will Prevail, explores the qualities that defined Ofir. Its chapters include optimism, certainty, integrity, friendship, loyalty, togetherness, determination, heart, peace, giving, and legacy. The book says Ofir regarded leadership as a responsibility to listen, give, act for others, and build trust. 

Israeli President Isaac Herzog describes Ofir as a leader whose love for Kfar Aza, Sha’ar HaNegev, and the surrounding region created cohesion and hope. In a letter to Doron following Ofir’s murder, Herzog writes that Ofir “understood leadership as responsibility and service”. He describes him as a man of vision who knew how to turn that vision into action. 

Those qualities were tested on 7 October 2023. Ofir was at home in Kfar Aza with his wife, Vered, and three of their sons. Nitzan was in the kibbutz’s young-adult neighbourhood. 

When Ofir learned that terrorists had entered the kibbutz, he collected a weapon from the armoury and joined the fight to defend the community. His weapon later jammed. He was shot near his home and died at 07:07. 

The family didn’t initially know what had happened to him. Doron says they tried calling Ofir and eventually located his phone. Aviv, Ofir’s eldest son, found his father’s body. Nitzan, 19, was fatally wounded in his safe room after terrorists entered the young-adult neighbourhood. The attack also killed members of Vered’s family. 

According to Doron, the family spent 12 days waiting for confirmation of Nitzan’s death. 

The kibbutz remained under terrorist control for several days, and bodies had to be collected and identified. He returned to the area while soldiers were searching for Nitzan. The experience remains one of the most difficult he’s been through. 

Yet Doron says Ofir’s family has continued to rebuild. Vered moved them out of the kibbutz, created a home where relatives could gather, and later helped lead the return towards Kfar Aza. “She’s a hero,” he says. 

For Doron, rebuilding Kfar Aza is part of continuing Ofir’s work rather than simply remembering him. He says Ofir believed strongly in the importance of people living in the Gaza Envelope. He points to the desire of families to return despite the danger as evidence of that commitment. “Going back there and rebuilding the kibbutz is a continuation,” he says. 

The same idea lies behind the Or Ofir Foundation, created with Ofir’s colleagues and supporters to continue programmes in leadership, community building, and support for young adults. 

Netaim, which began with 40 communities, has grown to about 240 communities, according to Doron. The foundation also runs a leadership programme for young Jews from around the world. Each group includes about 20 participants. 

Its projects include building Jewish communities, supporting young leaders, and encouraging partnerships with people who support Israel and Jewish communities. Doron says the foundation is not intended simply to preserve Ofir’s memory; it puts his values into practice. 

He believes one of those values is the idea that Jews in Israel and the diaspora are “two legs of the same body. If one hurts, the other one supports the leg that is hurt.” That belief has taken on new meaning since 7 October, he says, as antisemitism has increased in many parts of the world. 

Doron believes Ofir’s legacy also offers a response to internal divisions within Israeli and Jewish society. He says disagreement is natural, but people should remain united without demanding that everyone think alike. He distinguishes between being identical and being united. For him, unity allows different opinions while maintaining a shared commitment to one another. 

This is reflected in the concept of reut, which Doron describes as a form of friendship based on mutual responsibility. He says Ofir lived that principle by making people feel that he would stand beside them. 

Three years after his death, the loss has not become easier. Instead, Doron says, Ofir’s absence has become clearer. Yet he also feels his presence when he speaks and teaches about leadership. “Sometimes when I talk to people and do a lot of teaching around the world, I feel that a lot of his words are coming through me.” 

Herzog’s letter similarly presents Ofir’s legacy as something that should become action. The president writes that the book should inspire readers to turn memory into responsibility, responsibility into service, and pain into renewed hope and growth. 

For Doron, the most important way to remember his brother is therefore not simply to speak about what was lost. He wants people to ask what they can do for others. 

“After 7 October, I heard this sentence from all around the world: how can I help?” he says. “By doing that, I think that to lead is to serve. By doing that, we are continuing his legacy.” Doron says Ofir believed that life and goodness would prevail. Three years later, he is trying to ensure that belief is expressed through action.